Blog Post List

Oscar fact: Iñarritu is the 5th consecutive foreign-born person to win the best director award, although no other winner has been the butt of an immigration joke. Also, at a time when 11 million lives – three-quarters women and children – are in limbo due to Congress’s inaction on immigration, we need action, not jokes. That is why we have dedicated this space to talking about the real issues, real insights, and real complexities relating to immigration, contemporary culture, and yes- to the Oscars, too.

While I was thinking about writing you this note, I remembered that when my daughter was a little girl she'd run to the door to hug me when I came home from work. Her smiles lit up the room as she'd chant, "Yay, mommy's home, mommy's home!" She never doubted I'd return home at the end of the day. But an estimated 5.5 million children who are in mixed-immigrant status families live in fear that their mom or dad might not come home at the end of the day. [1] Every day. Every. Day. This has got to change. Now. *I'm signing on to an open letter to our national leaders, and I hope you will too,...

The growing Latino demographic in our country, along with their demonstrated voting power, is poised to push legislators to favor stronger gun safety laws. And within the Latino community, women, especially mothers, are likely to be at the forefront in calling on Congress to protect our nation's children against gun-related violence. That's why Latina moms, along with other mothers from coast to coast, are voicing their concern about the safety of their families and calling for common sense gun violence prevention measures. MomsRising, a national organization advocating on behalf of families...

What happens in Vegas shouldn't always stay in Vegas. Earlier this week, in a crammed high school basketball stadium in Las Vegas, I heard President Obama speak about the need to finally, truly fix our broken immigration system so that it's fair and also brings economic strength to our entire nation. Right now, too many families and businesses in the United States are suffering because we lack a modernized roadmap to citizenship for aspiring citizens. The clock is ticking for families and for our economy. According to the latest Associated Press poll, the majority of Americans favor providing...

For my grandmother, Obdulia Olivella, moving was a part of life. She was born in El Salvador and moved to Panama as a young woman to help her U.S.-born husband start a business. Over the next couple of decades, they would move with four children in tow to the United States, back to Panama, then to Venezuela and ultimately settling permanently in the United States. Families move. Immigrants are people who move. Thankfully, for my grandmother, due to her personal circumstances, it was not difficult to obtain U.S. citizenship. But this is not the case for the 11 million people currently living...

As I listened to the barrage of news this week on immigration, I kept thinking about an 8-year-old girl I met in Georgia in 2011. Melanie is a star student and Girl Scout. Her mother bravely spoke to a group of women delegates about how Georgia's treatment of immigrants was affecting families. Melanie clung to her mother and cried while her mother told us how difficult it was when she had to tell Melanie that they might be forced to move back to Mexico if Georgia passed a harsh new anti-immigrant law. Melanie's mother also proudly told us that Melanie took it upon herself to write Georgia's...

Originally posted on the Miami Herald Teresa Rey is one of the millions of mothers across the nation who carefully watched the first presidential debate of 2012. In a snap shot, it is fair to say that Teresa felt frustrated with the moderator’s lack of questions around family economic security issues. Questions about unfair wages for mothers, the high price of childcare, and the lack of paid leave to care for children and the elderly were completely left off the table. The moderator also failed to ask the candidates about the contributions of immigrant families to the overall economy of our...

This op-ed originally appeared in ABC News / Univision . Lily Eskelsen is a mother, grandmother and teacher with 20 years of classroom experience. While she's not an immigrant, she has passionate views on immigration because many of her students have dealt with the struggles of being undocumented. "Some of those kids live in the shadows given the absence of a roadmap to citizenship," she says. "They are good kids who work hard in school, play on the team, join the chess club, and sing in the musical...if we care about making our communities financially stronger, we must place these precious...

While we continue the momentum towards passage of the DREAM Act, mothers across the country are standing in support of the 1.76 million immigrant youth who will be able, starting August 15, 2012, to seek a form of administrative relief from deportation. This first step in the long-awaited deportation relief for youth who came to our country as children is an immense victory for families across the nation. With that said, MomsRising , an online and on-the-ground family-oriented advocacy group of more than one million members across the nation, urges people to be very careful and thorough when...

Welcome to the MomsRising blog-a-thon developed by the delegation of women leaders traveling to Georgia this week as part of a growing national resistance to anti-immigrant laws. The We Belong Together Delegation will hear, and then share, the stories of women and children affected by Georgia’s anti-immigrant bill, HB 87, copycat legislation of Arizona’s controversial and costly SB1070. (For more information on HB 87, see below.) The over two dozen organizations represented in the delegation include the National Domestic Workers Alliance , AFL-CIO , Center for Reproductive Rights , MomsRising...

For more than two hundred years, mothers from every corner of the globe have come here to seek a better life for their families, particularly their children. And all of us, newcomers as well as those with families who have been here for generations, want our children to live a safe and healthy life, one with the opportunity to fulfill their hopes and dreams. Over the course of our nation’s history, there have been cycles of anti-immigrant fervor including a painfully virulent one right now. The most recent manifestation is Georgia’s passage of a harsh Arizona style anti-immigrant law. This...

It’s coming right up. And I’m trying to remember to pack some Kleenex. In response to Georgia’s new anti-immigrant law, on September 28 and 29th I will be representing MomsRising on a delegation of women's organizations traveling to Atlanta, Georgia, to bear witness to the law’s effect on women, children and families. The National Women’s Domestic Workers Alliance gives a spot-on summary of the law: "Like Arizona's SB1070, Georgia's new HB 87 law threatens to have devastating effects on women and children, including an increase in racial profiling, the separation of families (children from...

"My husband and I were denied a home loan last year due to my being on maternity leave. It was a tremendously frustrating experience, as I was employed and on a federally protected leave; though I was told that in the eyes of the lender, I was unemployed." -- Olivia, California There's hardly a need more basic than shelter for our families. And when trying to rent or buy a home, everyone should get a fair shake. But many credit-worthy pregnant women and mothers are being denied home loans or rentals solely because they are on maternity leave or have children. Redlining -- the practice where...

“My husband and I were denied a home loan last year due to my being on maternity leave. It was a tremendously frustrating experience, as I was employed and on a federally protected leave; though was told that in the eyes of the Housing discrimination against pregnant women and mothers is illegal and unacceptable. lender, I was unemployed.” -- Olivia, California Discrimination against mothers in our nation is disturbingly common. We regularly see it in hiring and wages, but did you also know that discrimination against pregnant women and mothers is happening in home loans and rental...

Good news! The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced this afternoon at a news conference that they reached a settlement agreement with a mortgage company that denied a new mom a home loan simply because she was on maternity leave . Emma Cooper-Serber, LMSW / MPH, a NYC MomsRising member and mother of a three year old daughter, was invited to speak at the news conference, saying: “No need is more basic than the need to shelter our families, and home loan discrimination against mothers is illegal and unacceptable. HUD vowed last year to take this issue seriously and...

We just heard about this appalling article in Psychology Today from our friends at ColorOfChange.org. Gabriel (on their staff) gave us the go-ahead to share their email about this. Here’s what the ColorOfChange team writes: ************** Nearly 20 years after a black parent documented how hard it was to hear, "Mommy, I want to be white,"1 Psychology Today reinforced the false and hurtful sentiment that Black women aren't attractive. Last week they published an article claiming it to be scientific fact that Black women are less beautiful than women of other races,2 penned by Satoshi Kanazawa...

Odds are, if you are a mom, you're one of the 72 percent of women in the United States who support the DREAM Act. [1] But we want to know why. First, a quick refresher: The DREAM Act is short for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. Currently, undocumented immigrant children who were brought to the U.S. at a young age and have grown up here have no way to become legal citizens and fully contribute to society. Upon graduating from high school, these children face an uncertain future, including barriers to college and risk of deportation to a country they often no longer...

When it rains it pours, and that’s a bad thing when it comes to discrimination against mothers. We recently wrote about a mom whose application for a mortgage loan was turned down because she was on maternity leave, and we also shared the news that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has launched an investigation. [1] [2] Right after we posted that, stories poured in as many moms across the country wrote MomsRising saying that they'd also been refused a home loan or turned away from renting an apartment. All because they were pregnant, on maternity leave, or had a child in...